Author: Gerard

Steve Gunn’s recent session for Seattle’s KEXP consisting of “Vagabond”, “Chance”, “Luciano”, and “Morning Is Mended” from the critically acclaimed ‘The Unseen In Between’ is now available for viewing (see above).

On June 7, we’ll be reissuing Sonic Youth’s ‘Battery Park, NYC: July 4, 2008’. Initially sold as a bonus item alongside the 2009 release of the band’s final album, ‘The Eternal’, the live recording will now be available on streaming services and as a stand-alone physical package for the first time ever. Culled from their show at Battery Park’s River To River Festival (and broadcast live on WFMU), the setlist spans the band’s 30-year career.

The live version of “Bull In The Heather” is now available to stream HERE.

Coinciding with the full release of the live album on June 7th, ‘The Eternal’ will be 25% off on the Matador Store from that date to June 14th.

Orders from the Matador Store include a Matador Records Revisionist History Slipmat (while supplies last).

This morning Steve Gunn has confirmed a new August/September European tour in support of the critically acclaimed ‘The Unseen In Between’, accompanied by Anton Coene’s footage of the album’s standout “Morning Is Mended”, filmed in the former monestary, Caermersklooster.

A very limited Japanese edition of Iceage’s ‘Beyondless’ has been pressed on smokey grey vinyl complete with OBI strip, to commemorate the band’s upcoming Tokyo tour date (June 11). It’s available now in very limited quantity.

Interpol will mark their first anniversary on the road in support of ‘Marauder’ with a series of large-scale indoor and outdoor September dates alongside Morrissey. Tickets go on sale Friday, April 12 at 10am local time.

In addition to the major festival appearances below, there’s 3 new headlining Snail Mail shows on tap including July 31st at Brooklyn Steel. Tickets for the dates in bold go on sale this Friday at 10am local time.

After the briefest of respites, Lucy Dacus’ seemingly endless global touring continues next month in Savannah, GA. In addition, 6 southern U.S. dates with support from Mothers were just announced, with tickets on sale this Friday at 10am local time (links below).

With their massive global tour in support of ‘Bottle It In’ continuing this week in Burlington VT, Kurt Vile & The Violators reconvened in New York City last night for an appearance on NBC’s “Late Night With Seth Meyers”, performing “Yeah Bones”. Still photography courtesy NBC’s Lloyd Bishop.

In addition to August’s hotly anticipated Boaty Weekender cruise with guests Yo La Tengo, Mogwai, Japanese Breakfest and many others, Belle and Sebastian have confirmed 8 summer appearances in the US and Canada. Tickets go on general sale this Friday at 10am local time.

Spoon spent nearly two years touring in support of ‘Hot Thoughts’ so what better way to commemorate the summer of 2019 than by visiting the continent’s finest ampitheatres and multi-purpose entertainment venues on a package tour alongside such show business titans as Beck and Cage The Elephant? If an answer to this question pops into your head, please don’t bother sharing it as the shows are already booked and tickets go on sale rather soon (Friday at 10am local time, in fact).

Though Car Seat Headrest’s current North American run recommences this Thursday in Boston, MA, the band have confirmed 9 additional summer show. Pre-sale begins Tuesday at 10am local time.. You can sign up for the presale (password TODAY ONLY) at https://carseatheadrest.com/tourdates. You’ll receive a text and email 10 minutes before tickets go on sale. General onsale begins Friday at 10am local time.

The morning after Friday’s sold-out Bowery Ballroom, Steve Gunn appeared on the Saturday, February 2 edition of “CBS This Morning” performing “Vagabond”, “New Familiar” and “New Moon” from one of 2019’s most critically acclaimed albums, ‘The Unseen In Between’

Kurt Vile premiered a new song earlier today, “Timing Is Everything (And I’m Falling Behind)” and it’s exclusively available from Amazon Music. If you’re lucky enough to share your living space with an Alexa-enabled device, simply utter the phrase, “Alexa, play the new Kurt Vile song,” and VOILA, your life with be enriched thru the miracle of A-L-E-X-A. Kurt calls the song, “a candid snapshot of KV & the Violators ‘at home’; where we like it: sparse and jangly and as live as possible. Ok, fine, with some additional accoutrements (including a sick b bender overdub by Rob!). Jesse swells and chimes beautiful guitar as well. KV fingerpicks and sings. The lyrics are country blues. “Open the flood gates of a down pouring rain… in my brain.” Masterfully recorded in Athens, GA by our drummer Kyle somewhere inside a cluster of hazy band rehearsals on the roundabout way to a festival in Denver. Mixed by Peter Katis. This jam was one of many contenders for the last album, but we gonna start peeling em off for ya now instead.”

What would possess a respected independent label entering an (ill-fated) joint-venture with a major record company to make one of their inaugural releases a record as uncompromisingly unpleasant and visceral as Unsane’s 1994, ‘Total Destruction’ — once again, re-pressed by Matador and now on sale to mark the album’s 25th anniversary? Well, for starters, we were a bunch of arrogant motherfuckers who thought we knew better (MAN, DID THE YEARS BEAT THAT OUT OF US). Also, maybe you had to be there (and I was there — over and over and over again and I have the hearing/brain damage to prove it) but Chris Spencer, Pete Shore and Vincent Signorelli were a devastating force. That we did a somewhat crap job of convincing more than a few people of this is something we’d love to lay at the feet of Atlantic Records…so there you go. It’s everyone’s dream to do what they love and here we are still doing it.

(“Body Bomb” video, directed by Richard Kern)

Fast forward a quarter century later and Unsane are still making sick records, touring the globe (now with Dave Curran in Pete’s spot) and setting an impossibly high bar for a new generation of bands. And Matador’s still working O.T. hoping you won’t be overcome with noxious nostalgia fumes, but not before you jump on a totally destructive a 25% off sale.

Today marks the 25th anniversary of Yo La Tengo’s “From A Motel 6” being released as a single thru the confusing maelstrom of the major label distribution system. It’s also Ira Kaplan’s birthday, and to celebrate both of these historic events we’re offering 25% off ‘Extra Painful’ and ‘There’s A Riot Going On’. Stream “From A Motel 6” and find your territory’s Matador Webstore

(Matador’s 2018 Person Of The Year Jered Thretin wants you to know that by reading these lists, you’re part of the illusion)

Around this time every year, your long-suffering editor attempts to coax a list of favorite recordings, books, television programs, life events, etc. out of the label’s artist roster and our show business friends. In the past, the exercise has been an exacting process, fraught with nagging, teeth-gnashing and no shortage of reluctant participants, some of whom actually changed labels or places of employment or their identities/physical appearances to avoid the chore. Even worse, we sometimes overlook persons currently recording for or working for the record label (either that or they’ve saving their lists for a website people actually read).

For some historical perspective, here’s last year’s selections. Questions or comments about our crap taste and/or inexplicable omissions are welcome (but NOT THAT WELCOME) . And without further ado, let the coronation of Mitski commence – GC)

Steve Gunn
2018
Daniel Carter, Hamid Drake, William Parker set at Troost
Marc Morgan last solo show in NYC for a while at Union Pool
Joshua Abrahms Natural Information Society at the Hideout, Chicago
Drinking wine with Roy Montgomery in ChristChurch
Jessica Pratt
Richard Thompson
Coolio coming to my show in LA and saying what’s up after my set.
Yo La Tengo
Loren Connors & Alan Licht Duo
Mathew Shipp
Tom Carter /Pat Murano Duo at Luncheonette
Heron Oblivion
Bob Dylan doing a 15 minute band melt version of Blowing in The Wind at the Met in Philadelphia. I rushed the stage
Ka Baird
Body Head
Sun Ra Arkestra

Flying in two seater biplane with no windows around New Zealand with a fan who offered to take me on a flight the morning after my show.
Jennifer Castle
World of Echo record store London
Watching Dave Burrell play piano while sitting directly above him from the balcony

TELLY:
The Handmaid’s Tale, Season 2: The travails of Offred beyond the original novel had no reason to be this compelling, yet they were.
Atlanta, Season 2: Ageing out in the music industry so beautifully portrayed here.
My Beautiful Friend: obvs.

FILM:
Nico, 1988

FOOTBALL:

AFC Bournemouth 2 – 2 Newcastle Utd, Dean Court, 24th February: The plucky Cherries scored twice in the last 10 minutes to tie things up and leave Ryan Mahan with a whole lot of egg on his face.

BEST CELEBRITY BEEF:
Lana Del Rey vs Azalea Banks

BEST VIEW:
Castelmola, Sicily

MOST PENIS PARAPHERNALIA GATHERED IN ONE PLACE:
Caffe Bar Turrisi, Castelmola, Sicily
(honourable mention to the Air BnB in Chinatown NYC for the suitcase full of dildos hidden beneath the couch)

1. Goat – ‘Let It Burn’
“The Gävle Goat is a Christmas display erected annually in Gävle, Sweden. It is a giant goat figure made of straw. It has become famous for being destroyed in arson attacks, and despite security measures, the goat has been burned to the ground thirty-seven times since its first appearance in 1966.” The song is good too.

highlights/loves from 2018: seeing Kurt Vile open for Neil Young in Quebec City, launch of @rasmixtapes, every second spent at deer mountain inn, Interpol press conference in Mexico City, Marfa Myths, my brilliant friend (show + books), tropical fuck storm video for “you let my tyres down,” (above) Taylor from Billions, The Sadies and Kurt playing “Albuquerque” on the lawn of a haunted house in the Catskills, the favourite & mission impossible fallout, a mixtape with a blue watercolor given to me recently, new chris cohen song “edit out”

Rosemont Bar, Brooklyn NY : Crystal Mesh presents a delightfully intimate karaoke-ki hosted by DJ Paradise. On this particular evening, a young lithe gentleman performed the classically coy 1986 hit “We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off” by Jermaine Stewart. As the song progressed, said gentleman slowly started removing ALL of his layers (it was March brrRRrr) until he reached the end of the song, and the end of his wardrobe. He finished the number completely nude, holding the mic in one hand, and his bravery in the other.

The Cat’s Meow, New Orleans LA : There’s a tender balance when traveling, to avoid the obvious and embrace the peculiar. But proximity and a Why Not attitude can tip the scales sometimes and lead you to a Bourbon Street (GASP) karaoke bar. Twas the weekend before Halloween, my two favorite things coming together, a time when people can embarrass publically preen visually and audibly in a mélange of chaos. Sexy Jesus was my bartender, a skull masked man sang Thriller like a pro, the staff broke into a line dancing rendition of Footloose, and our favorite socially awkward slasher Michael Myers was spotted waving his machete in glee to the Friends Theme Song. A friend watched the video I took of him, and aptly noted “He’s such a RACHEL”.

The Karaoke Hole (K-Hole to all the clever darlings out there), London UK : I trekked out to this basement haunt by myself one night, because my quest to always find the next best spot is unyielding. When I walked in, a young unassuming man was singing Mariah Carey “Fantasy” and I knew I was in the right place. The scantily clad drag queen host Rhys’ Pieces brought the vibes and an insanely accurate version of Missy Elliott “Work It”, with backwards lyrics and matching choreo to boot.

Celtica Pub, Newport RI : On the heels of my first Newport Folk Festival came a splendiferous night of ‘Roke in a dark Irish bar with a KJ who was deaf in one ear. Walking up to the door of the place, I met my future ex-husband, Cowboy Doug, who had taken the cordless mic outside and was singing on the sidewalk, staring at the crowd through the window. Later on he wowed me with his rendition of Marc Cohn’s “Walking in Memphis” , closing with “But do I really feel the way I feel? YEAH I DO, Im really feelin that shit tonight, Bro.” And yes, he did make that hat.

After a whirwind 2018 that’s included no shortage of year-end accolades for ‘Historian’, Lucy Dacus embarks on yet another US tour this February (new dates in bold below, tickets on sale Friday, 10am local time).